Tobacco Road Shocker: Boston College Sends Tar Heels Up in Flames

And that is why they play the games.

In a stunning upset, the Boston College Eagles walked into the Dean Dome on Sunday night and handed the previously unbeaten No. 1 ranked North Carolina Tar Heels their first loss of the year.

What a way for the Eagles to open up ACC play.

Forget all the talk of an undefeated season and strolling to a national title.

With Duke and Wake Forest appearing to have loaded teams, Carolina now must regroup and focus solely on winning the ACC after what appeared to be a given.

The Tar Heels will certainly be able to make up for this loss next Sunday when they travel to Wake Forest, but for now, the glory and the accolades go to B.C.

Give the Eagles their due because for such a young team (10 total freshmen and sophomores) they showed no fear, and more importantly, no quit.

In fact, some idiot on this very website predicted that UNC would win this game in a cakewalk.

The author even went so far as to write:

North Carolina is simply too talented to lose this game. Too many things need to go right for Boston College to have a legitimate chance of pulling the upset. At the same time, B.C. is too young, too inexperienced, and lacks the fire power to beat the Heels on the road.

So how in the name of James “Buster” Douglas did B.C. shock Carolina?

It started in the back court.

In a game highlighted by two of the elite guards in the conference, let alone the country, B.C.’s Tyrese Rice clearly won his match-up with Ty Lawson.

The Hampton, VA native scored 25 points, dished out eight assists, and even grabbed five rebounds in 36 minutes of play all without committing a foul.

Lawson on the other hand, scored a mere 10 points on an abysmal three of 13 shooting and handed out only four assists.

One of the biggest questions heading into the game was who would help Rice on the offensive end?

The answer came in the form of sophomore Rakim Sanders (22 points including four of seven on threes) and freshman Reggie Jackson, who chipped in with 17 points.

The Tar Heels have one of the deepest benches in the country but, thanks in large part to Jackson, B.C.’s bench outscored Carolina’s by a margin of 20 to 17.

Another area in which UNC should’ve had an advantage was in the rebounding department.

With Tyler Hansbrough, Deon Thompson and the depth of their bench against a young and undersized front line of B.C., Carolina should’ve dominated the back boards.

While the Heels did out-rebound the Eagles, the margin was only seven (45 to 38). And the Eagles did manage to snag 14 offensive boards to help their cause.

One area in which Boston College deserve a great deal of credit is they neutralized Carolina’s transition game.

Typically the Tar Heels will pressure a team to no end, collect turnover after turnover, and then convert them into points.

That didn’t happen as B.C turned the ball over just 10 times by only three players. Valuing the basketball clearly impacted Carolina’s offensive output.

Carolina spent the majority of the game trying to speed up the tempo and apply the necessary pressure to ignite their vaunted running game. But while they played at a hectic pace, the Heels never appeared to play with a sense of urgency even as the Eagles built a 14 point lead.

With about four minutes to go, and as the realization of losing began to set in, only then did the Tar Heels play in a manner that would’ve served them well from the outset.

Josh Southern, B.C.’s 6’ 10” center, made Tyler Hansbrough work for every bit of his 21 points and nine rebounds.

But Hansbrough lacked the help he usually can count on from front court mates Deon Thompson and Danny Green.

The two combined for 14 points in only 40 minutes.

As with most close games, free throws played a role in determining the outcome.

The Eagles converted 12 of their 16 attempts while the Tar Heels shot an abysmal 55.6 percent (15 of 27) from the charity stripe.

The results of this game certainly will give the rest of the ACC hope that the league title is up for grabs.

But on this night, the spoils go to Boston College.

Perhaps no play highlighted B.C.’s grit and determination better than when Rakim Sanders ran down Wayne Ellington on a break-away and cleanly blocked his dunk attempt, much to the bewilderment of the Tar Heel faithful.

North Carolina could very well go on to win the NCAA championship in dominant fashion. After all this is only one game in a five month season.

But at least for one night, the Eagles exposed a chink in the armor of the favorites.

So it looks like the NCAA tournament is officially wide open again.

Let the madness begin.